Persona Neo
by Alisawarrior
Summary: Shinji Norumi was once a normal Neopet, but once circumstances have led him to attend the Imperial Highschool of Shenkuu he gets thrown into an adventure he never planned for. A sickness has been sweeping through Shenkuu and the rest of Neopia making Neopets fall asleep and never wake for their slumber and Shinji must find what is causing it, alongside those he meets along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: Neopets and the Persona Series belong to Jumpstart and Atlus respectively!**

 **1st of the Month of Eating (April), Year 18**

 **01/04/18 Sunday**

 **Daytime**

My name is Shinji Norumi and I started out as a pretty normal Neopet. I was just a regular Cloud Zafara until the day I was travelling to Shenkuu to attend the Imperial High School of Shenkuu. My parents move around a lot for their job and this time they're going to a place that doesn't have a high school, which makes things inconvenient if I were to go with them, so I have to attend high school there. Thankfully, it's a boarding school so I don't have to stay with any relatives or family friends I barely know, I'm just going to live in a dorm and stay out of the other students' ways. My parents would like me to make some friends, but what's the point when I'll be moving in a year? I just hope that the two family friends do live in Shenkuu that have been asked to keep an eye on me don't push the whole "making friends" thing. It should be fine though as I don't have to live with them. While I was on the airship that would arrive in Shenkuu, I had decided to sleep for a bit and I ended up having a weird dream. I was in the middle of a maze made of blue walls, the floor below me was also blue and seemed to be made of velvet. In front of me was a table and two comfortable-looking blue couches. Seated in one couch was a blue Lenny with an abnormally long beak and in the other a blue Cybunny whose eyes were a supernatural gold colour.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." The long-beaked Lenny said. I wanted to ask what this Velvet Room place was, but I couldn't find my voice. Then the Lenny spoke again. "We seem to have a guest with most interesting destiny in such an interesting world... My name is Igor, it is pleasure to make your acquaintance." Igor said graciously.

"Um, likewise." I replied, finally finding my voice.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…" Igor said. _What the heck does that mean?"_ I wondered as I waited for Igor to say more. "Now before we proceed, I'd like you to sign a contract. But it's nothing to be worried about. It will just ask that you take responsibility for all your actions." Igor said, placing the aforementioned contract in front of me. I thought about it for a moment, taking responsibility of my actions didn't sound all that hard and it wasn't like I hadn't been taking responsibility for my actions before now. I nodded to myself and signed the contract. Igor picked up the contract and then it disappeared into thin air.

"Shinji Norumi… Ah… I see. Oh, this Cybunny here is my assistant. Her name is Alina. We are both residents of this place and we reside here to assist our guests with fulfilling their destiny." Igor said.

"I am Alina. I shall accompany you throughout your journey and assist you however I can." Alina said in a calm tone.

"We shall attend to the details when you return here later. Until then, farewell." Igor said and my vision went black.

Then I woke up to a voice over the loudspeaker saying that we would arrive in Shenkuu in half an hour. I remembered the dream I had and the mystery of Igor, Alina and the Velvet Room still swirled in my mind. I decided to disregard it for now and get ready to alight from airship by collecting my suitcase and my backpack. I wasn't exactly travelling light but I would be in Shenkuu for at least a whole year so I packed with that in mind. 30 minutes later the airship arrived in Shenkuu. I got off the airship with my luggage and immediately noticed a rough-looking grey Kougra holding a sign with my name on it and a rather pretty Pastel Gelert beside him. _The Kougra must be Mikasa Akkaman and the Gelert, Rosalere Arisato._ I thought to myself. From what my parents told me, Mikasa and Rosalere were engaged to be married and living together, but hadn't decided on a date to be married on. I hoped that I would be long gone before then. I walked over to them and they both smiled, which seemed a little forced from both of them.

"Hello, you must be Shinji. I recognise you from the picture your parents sent to us." Mikasa said.

"You must already know this, but I'm Rosalere and the guy wearing the lame newspaper boy hat is Mikasa." Rosalere said in a playful tone.

"Hey! I like my hat…" Mikasa said indignantly. "Anyway, you'll have to get used to calling me Mr Akkaman as I teach art at your high school."

I blinked in surprise, that was news to me and I had chosen art as my creative class too. Every student had to choose at least one creative class and one exercise class that would be taught alongside all the over subjects. I began to wish I had chosen music, but it was too late now. Then I realised that they were looking at me expectantly and I was reminded that it was probably my turn to speak.

"It's very nice to meet you both." I said to them, taking the easy route. Their smiles became more genuine in that moment and I knew that I had done the right thing.

"Well, I'll be taking you to your dorm. I know you asked for a non-coed dorm, but our other male dorm building burned down a week ago so I'm afraid you'll have to put up with coed for now." Mikasa said. I shrugged, it didn't really matter. I thought having a single gender dorm would have the other students easier to dodge, but I've been dodging both sexes for a long time.

Mikasa waking me down to a dorm called the Lunar Dorm. Apparently all the dorms were named after things to do with the sun and moon. We both went inside and a pretty royalgirl Wocky with chocolate brown eyes was there to greet us.

"Hello Mr Akkaman. This is our new dorm mate?" She said in a very cultured Altadorian accent.

"Yes, this is Shinji Norumi. He's going to spend his second year of high school here." Mikasa said.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." I said to her, just barely able to put together that single sentence. Her prettiness was very distracting.

"You too! My name is Arianoli Boardare. I'm a second year just like you." Arianoli replied in a cheerful tone.

"Arianoli, would you mind showing your new classmate to his room and give him a little tour of the school tomorrow?" Mikasa asked her.

"I'd be happy to, Mr Akkaman. His room is on the fourth floor, right?" Arianoli said.

"That's correct, it's the first door on the right. I'll leave you to it." Mikasa said before leaving me alone with Arianoli.

"Alright, follow me then. So, where do you come from, Shinji?" Arianoli said as she began to lead the way to my room. I followed her and I really wasn't sure what to tell her.

"That's kind of a hard question for me actually." I finally said. "I pretty much move to a new place every year so I never really feel like I come from anywhere."

"Ooh. That actually sounds pretty rough. Contrary to how I must sound, I actually come from Neopia Central." Arianoli said.

"Really? But you have an Altadorian accent." I replied, a little puzzled.

"I lived in Altador when I was younger, moved with my father to Neopia Central and he speaks in the same accent so it stuck around." Arianoli explained. We arrived on the fourth floor and she stopped at the first door down. "Here's your room and you currently have the whole floor to yourself, lucky huh?" Arianoli said with a cheerful smile. I couldn't help smiling back. It was a stroke of good luck to have the whole floor to myself. "Well, I guess I'll leave you to unpack. School's tomorrow so you better get a good night's sleep. I'll come calling for you tomorrow. See you later!" Arianoli said.

"Okay, see you later." I said and watched her leave. _I wouldn't mind hanging with her sometimes, she is very pretty._ I thought to myself as I entered my room to unpack.

 **Late Night**

I had another dream, but it wasn't about the Velvet Room and the two that resided there. I was in a place covered in pastel colours, but a shadowy figure faced me and seemed to darken the place just with his presence.

"So, you are the Dream Bearer? The one who will vanquish the Nightmares? How curious that fate would choose a boy like you." The shadowy figure said. "I don't care what anyone says or what anything dictates, I am going to drag every Neopian into an endless nightmare, they all deserve it, including you. But if you think you can stop me, just try it Dream Bearer. Try to defeat the Nightmares that will eventually rule all of Neopia." It continued. I woke up with a start after that. I didn't get back to sleep for a long time after that.

 **Author's Note: Well hello! Alisawarrior here. I started this little fanfic a while ago on Deviantart and I decided that I would start posting this story here as well. The people reading here will get one update per day until you're caught up with those on Deviantart. Then you'll get updated whenever those on Deviantart do. In any case, I do hope you enjoy reading Persona Neo.**

 **Alisawarrior~**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: Neopets and the Persona Series belong to Jumpstart and Atlus respectively!**

 **02/04/18 Monday**

 **Early Morning**

Arianoli came calling like she had said she would. Thankfully, I was already up and dressed, although I felt like death as that dream had interrupted my beauty sleep.

"Good morning!" She said as I opened the door. She was dressed in the school's winter uniform and still looked gorgeous. But she was the type that looked good in anything. A concerned look appeared on her pretty features. "Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It just took longer to unpack than I thought it would, that's all." I replied. I didn't want to say it was a bad dream as I didn't want to seem childish in front of Arianoli.

"Hey, Ari!" Came a voice from the stairs. An eventide Kougra was running towards us.

"Good morning, Jaidenenk." Arianoli said. Jaidenenk stopped in front of us and looked over at me.

"Oh, is this the new guy?" He asked Arianoli.

"Yep, his name is Shinji Norumi and he's a second year like we are." Arianoli replied. Jaidenenk grinned at me.

"'Sup! My name's Jaidenenk Cloud, but most people just call me Jaiden." Jaidenenk said, holding out his hand. I firmly shook his hand and returned his grin.

"Nice to meet you, man." I said. Jaidenenk's grin grew even wider.

"I think we're going to get along just fine." He said confidently.

 **Morning**

After a short breakfast, I walked with Arianoli and Jaidenenk to the school itself. The buildings were all in that distinctive Shenkuu style, all pagoda-styled roofs, wooden and sliding doors, not a hint of metal anywhere in its construction.

"I know it looks a little old-fashioned, but inside it's all state of the art. It has every right to be as the school is funded by the Shenkuu Imperial family" Arianoli said.

"Well, everything being at the height of teaching technology is why I was sent here by my parents." I said.

"What do your parents do anyway, that forces you to move every year?" Arianoli asked.

"They're both archeologists, so they're always moving around to different archeological sites while they usually leave near the nearest town or city. I mean, they bring back some pretty cool stuff from their digs and I kinda wanna be like them and study archeology like they do when I leave school. But it does get really lonely and the nearest town to their recent site is too small to have a high school and the place that does is like a six hour commute and no friends lived in a place near enough or were able to come and look after me in the six hour commute place so they sent me to board here. They weren't happy about not having me nearby, but they had no choice. Anyway, they usually don't spend longer than a year in any one place." I replied.

"Wow. Must not make it easy to have friends." Jaidenenk commented.

"It's not. It's why I don't have any." I sighed.

"Well, I need to show you around and see what classes we are both in." Arianoli said quickly. She then pushed Jaidenenk away. "And you need to go as I don't offer tours to existing long-time students that don't need them!" She said to him, gesturing for him to go with a mock angry expression. Jaidenenk first responded with a mock pout expression before saying,

"Alright, I'm going, I'm going! See you later!" And walking away with a smile.

"You two seem somewhat close." I said to Arianoli.

"Yeah, we've been good friends for a few years now. He knows to not take stuff like that personally." Arianoli said. Then her expression turned serious. "Before we get on with the tour, you've come in the middle of the year and I know for a fact that most people have already established friend groups. Jaiden and I are a friend group of our own, although we do drift between other groups. You could be part of our friend group. You just sounded really sad back there when you said you didn't have any friends and I want to make so you won't feel alone here." She said. I could tell from the tone of her voice and the look on her face that she was sincere and it just took all thought of refusing out of my mind. No one had ever offered this to me before, especially someone who barely knew me.

"I… I would appreciate that. Thank you." I said.

"Great! I would have insisted if you said no! Come on, let's get with the tour!" Arianoli said enthusiastically.

Arianoli's attitude was infectious and by the time she finished the tour and dropped me off at the faculty office to meet my new teacher, I felt great.

"So, according to the class lists posted in the foyer you have Miss Naru in class 2B. Not the same class as me, sadly. But Jaidenenk is in the same class. I'll leave you to talk to Miss Naru. See you later, Shinji." Arianoli said. She then strolled off presumably to her own class. I entered the faculty office and into an argument between two teachers. One was a male dimensional Usul and the other was a female maractite Hissi. I couldn't help staring at the maractite Hissi as she had some of the most beautiful maractite designs on her scales.

"You're jealous because my students tend to get better marks than yours!" The Hissi said accusingly

"Doesn't mean that you're not sleeping around with the school principal to get preferential treatment!" The Usul said haughtily.

"You take that back! I'm succeeding on my own merits thank you very much!"

"Ha! You're a woman, Honda Naru and no women I've known have ever succeeded as much as you have without doing something underhanded to do it!"

"Why you bas-"

The Hissi identified as Honda Naru suddenly noticed I was there.

"Oh, hi there! Can I help you?" She asked me.

"Um, yeah. I'm Shinji Norumi and I'm looking for Miss Naru." I said awkwardly. The Usul snorted disdainfully and left the office.

"Oh, yes! You're the new transfer student! I was reading your file earlier! Well, welcome to Shenkuu Imperial High School! Oh and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention what was going on with me and Mr Izuka. It's not really something that should concern a student." Miss Naru said in a pleasant tone. I nodded. I wasn't really intending to speak with anyone about a teacher accusing another teacher of sleeping around. Then the bell rang, signalling the start of class. "Now, come with me so I may introduce you to the class!" Miss Naru said. She gestured for me to follow her and I followed her out of the office.

Miss Naru introduced me to the class and then I took a desk next to Jaidenenk. Jaidenenk grinned hugely at me and was obviously quite happy to have me in the same class as him. I caught the other students in the class staring at me curiously and I couldn't help but scrunch down in my seat. I never liked being the center of attention.

 **After School**

Arianoli came to meet Jaidenenk and I in our classroom after school was done for the day.

"Hey boys. How was this guy's first day?" She said.

"It was fine." I replied.

"He was scrunched down in his seat for most of the day though." Jaidenenk said, causing me to glare at him.

"I just don't like having everyone stare at me!" I said defensively. Sure, I had to deal with it every time I went to a new school, but that is what makes me dislike it so much.

"Understandable. I don't like it much either, but much like you I have to deal with it." Arianoli sighed. I glanced around the room and saw what she meant. All eyes were on her, either from attractiveness or envy. "Let's get out of there. There's something I want to talk about with you two, but not with so many people listening in." Arianoli said.

She lead Jaidenenk and I out of the classroom and we exited the school, heading towards one of the popular shopping spots in Shenkuu. There were lots of them, Shenkuu being a land of merchants.

"So, what's up Ari?" Jaidenenk asked her.

"I heard a little rumour recently. You know that new sleeping sickness that has been going around Shenkuu recently?" Arianoli asked.

"Oh yeah. I heard people on the airship I came on talking about it." I said. The sleeping sickness had people fall asleep and not being able to be woken by anything. It was perplexing doctors all over and the sickness only seemed to be affecting those in Shenkuu.

"Well, I heard a rumour that all the patients went to a certain temple and when they left, they mysteriously got inflicted with the sickness. So people are saying that something about that temple is causing the sickness. It's actually keeping people away from that particular temple." Arianoli said excitedly.

"No! I know what's coming next and my answer is no! If you want to test to see if that rumour is true, be my guest but I'm not going with you." Jaidenenk said and quickly walked away. Arianoli sighed disappointedly and then focused on me.

"I guess I'll have you come with instead. Meet me at the Temple of the Kazeriu after school tomorrow. And if you don't show, you'll very much regret it!" Arianoli said in a tone that didn't invite any argument and I didn't want to find out how I would regret not showing. So I was stuck having to find out if the rumour was true and risk getting the sleeping sickness. I hoped for both of our sakes that it wasn't true.

 **Late Night**

That night I did try to study to take my mind off of what Arianoli and I were going to do tomorrow, but it didn't really work out. I couldn't stop thinking about the potentially dangerous situation we were going to walk into, so I couldn't concentrate. I eventually gave up and tried to get some sleep. I didn't sleep well that night, but it might not matter by tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Neopets and the Persona Series belong to Jumpstart and Atlus respectively.**

 **03/04/18 Tuesday**

 **After School**

I met Arianoli at the Temple of the Kazeriu as she asked, no, demanded me to do.

"Good, you're here. I was afraid that Jaiden would manage to dissuade you at the last second." Arianoli said.

"For the record, he did try." I said. Jaidenenk had tried to convince me not to go all day after finding out that I was going to test the rumour with Arianoli. He told me that Arianoli's threats were usually empty and it was a really bad idea. But he ended up sealing my decision to go instead when he mused whether Ari would do it whether I went or not and decided she might. I couldn't let her go on her own, as I understood it, friends weren't supposed to let other friends do things like that, at the very least let them do it alone. Jaidenenk did try to overturn my decision by stating that Arianoli probably wouldn't if I didn't show, but I didn't want to take that chance and Jaiden gave up saying it was my funeral.

"I didn't want to do this alone, so I am grateful that you decided to come anyway." Arianoli said with a smile that was already making this worth it. She slipped her hand into mine and we entered the Temple of the Kazeriu.

It was pretty anticlimactic. The doors weren't even bolted, which did strike me as strange. The temple's walls were covered in Kazeriu-related art, was completely empty of people and had numerous artefacts on display which I died to study. The silence was ominous but that was pretty much it.

"I don't feel any different. You?" I said.

"Me neither." Arianoli replied. "But we can look around for a bit before we leave, right?"

I nodded, interested by all the artefacts on display. What was the harm after all. Then I noticed a small, but ornate door on the east side of the temple. Arianoli followed my gaze and saw the door.

"A door? Wonder what's on the other side." She said. She then pulls me over to the door. "We might as well find out. Might be more artefacts to see." She said, knowing she was speaking my language. Curious what other treasures might be in the temple, I carefully opened the door which lead into a smaller, but more impressive room. The walls and ceiling were painted a midnight blue and painted silver stars covered the entirety of it, some joined together by thin gold lines to make constellations. There were even some more modern constellations, like the Altador Heroes constellations. Which would mean the Neopet who had discovered them was not the first after all, whoever made this temple was! Then I noticed there as an inscription under The Dreamer constellation in ancient Neopian. I went over to it and Arianoli joined me.

"What does that say?" She asked.

"Don't know yet. Just give me a minute as I should be able to translate it." I said. I slowly translated the inscription line by line, impressed with how clear the inscription was for it was probably painted there many years ago. I finished translating and with a bit of a chill going along my spine, I said the inscription fully translated.

 _Blessed by the great heroine_

 _They shall travel the dream realm_

 _And seek the darkness that dwells within_

 _They shall bring light where darkness falls_

 _And defeat the nightmares made of life_

 _For this is the fate of the Dream Bearer_

 _And their comrades of light_

Arianoli looked rather confused.

"What did all of that mean, Shinji?" She asked me.

"I don't know, Arianoli." I replied. But the inscription mentioned the Dream Bearer, a title that the shadowy figure in my dream that night had referred to me as. Did this inscription have something to do with that? As I wondered that, a purple, swirly portal suddenly opened. Then I suddenly felt it pull at something deep inside me.

"W-what's going on?!" Arianoli said in a panic. That was the last thing I heard before I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was in a world of pastel colours. And I had no idea how I had gotten there. I was laying, stomach down, on a shiny pastel-coloured floor and as I got up and took in my surroundings, I realised that this place was similar to the place in my dream. I noticed there were little orbs of light floating around all over the place, but as I went to touch one, my hand was suddenly slapped by a light-skinned hand. I turned in the direction of the hand and found myself face to face with a Light Faerie, at least she looked like a Light Faerie with her gold-ish yellow hair and wings. But her eyes were silver and she wore a midnight blue dress with tiny silver stars and a gold crescent moon on it.

"Who are you and why are you here?! Do you not know that you shouldn't touch others Dreamworlds?!" She yelled at me. I just stared at her, stunned and confused. I had no idea what was going on or where I was. The Light Faerie sighed. "I can clearly see that you are clueless. This is the Dream Realm and you are not supposed to be here." She said.

"Um, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I'm not supposed to be here, but my friend and I must of gotten dragged in here by that purple swirly portal and-" I began to say before the Faerie interrupted me.

"Wait, portal?! Then you…" She said with her eyes filled with fear. Then, I heard Arianoli screaming.

"Ari?! Hold on, I'm coming!" I called and began to head in her direction until the Light Faerie grabbed me by the shoulder.

"Wait boy, don't go! It's too dangerous for you to go over there!" She said. I jerked her hand off my shoulder.

"I don't care! One of my only friends is obviously in trouble and I need to help her!" I said determinedly. The Light Faerie seemed to think for a moment before grabbing a short sword from a fold in her dress and handing it to me.

"At least take this for your protection and let me come with you. I'm not much good in a fight, but I can help somehow. I have lived here all my life. My name is Seriya by the way" Seriya said.

"Cool, mine's Shinji. Let's go!" I said, short sword in hand. Seriya and I rushed over to where Arianoli's scream was and saw her faced by two strange imp-like creatures that looked really inappropriate and ugly.

"Arianoli!" I called to her.

"Shinji!" She yelled and back and ran over to me, going to hide behind me.

"Those are Shadows! They are extremely dangerous! Watch yourself!" Seriya said. The Shadows, as Seriya had called them were obviously monsters and even though I had a weapon, I knew I didn't have a chance of defeating them as they drew closer. I wished that I could save both Arianoli and myself from this nightmare and I felt a familiar tug inside myself, the same tug I felt when that portal opened. My body was suddenly racked with torturous pain and I dropped the short sword from it. I clutched the sides of my head.

"Shinji?! What's wrong?!" I heard Arianoli say in a panic. But I wasn't listening to her, I was listening to a voice inside myself.

" _You can save her and yourself and I can give you the power to do so because I am you. Will you seize this moment and become who you are destined to be?"_ The voice said.

"I'm not sure who I am destined to be. But if it means I means that I can protect people, then I will seize my destiny, this moment!" I replied.

" _Well said. I am thou and thou art I. I safeguard those who set off on a new beginning and I shall safeguard you on yours!"_ The voice said. I saw a black and white dreamcatcher before me and I grabbed it. Suddenly, a Zafara burst forth from it, but he was much bigger than I was. He was cloud-coloured like me, but part of it was a cloudy day sky like mine and the other was a cloudy night sky, he wore a suit that was half white and half black and his face, the day half was smiling the night half was frowning.

" _I am Janus and I am a part of you."_

"Persona." I whispered. The pain was gone and replaced with a feeling of freedom and exhilaration.

"Woah! What is that?" Arianoli said in wonder.

"This power… Who are you?" Seriya said incredulously. A grin spread across my face, I could defeat these monsters after all.

"Janus, Agi!" I called. Janus moved his hand towards one of the shadows in a flicking motion and it was suddenly set on fire. It screeched in pain and looked rather singed after the fire died down. Then they attacked Janus with their claws outstretched and every hit Janus took, I felt. It quickly occurred to me that any damage Janus took, I would feel that same damage. I had Janus use Agi three more times to defeat the shadows and they faded away. Janus disappeared back into the dreamcatcher.

"That, was a Persona." I said.

"You possess a Persona?! You must be who I was told to wait for when the nightmares came." Seriya said, clearly in awe.

"What is a Persona and who are you?" Arianoli asked Seriya,

"I shall answer the latter first, I am Seriya the Faerie of the Dream Realm. I am supposed to guard the Dream Realm from those who would misuse it. A Persona is a mask your soul creates to get through the hardships in life. You can summon that mask here to fight for you. But you need to be in control of who you are to summon a Persona." Seriya said and then looked at me with an approving eye. "You are quite gifted, young Neopet."

"Oh geez, I don't know about that. But what does this mean for me?" I said.

"Not today. I'll tell you whenever you are able to come back. You should as it's not good for Neopets to stay here for too long. You'll find you need a lot of rest when you get back to your Realm." Seriya said and opened a golden swirly portal. "This portal will take you back to your Realm."

"Thank you, Seriya. For everything." I said.

"You can thank me by coming back and not telling anyone about this realm." Seriya said. Arianoli and I went through the portal and we were back in the room with the constellations.

Jaidenenk burst into the room.

"You're both alright, thank Fyora." He said, visibly relieved.

"Aw, did you get worried about us and decided to come anyway?" Arianoli said a little teasingly.

"Well, when you get yourself and anyone else into dangerous situations it's my job to bail you out." Jaidenenk said.

"Thanks, Jaiden. But as you see we are largely unscathed." I said. Then I suddenly felt faint and then I blacked out.

 **Author's Note:** **And we finally meet Janus, Shinji's Persona. Janus is the Roman God of Beginnings, Endings, Dualities and Doorways. Here he is a Persona of the Fool Arcana. He learns Agi (fire) magic and a wide array of support and attack skills. He's a jack of all trades.**

 **The Shadows Shinji fought are Incubus of the Devil Arcana. They specialise in debilitating enemies with status effects, but are fairly weak otherwise.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Neopets and the Persona Series belong to Jumpstart and Atlus respectively.**

 **06/04/18 Friday**

 **Unknown**

I was back in the Velvet Room with Igor and Alina.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. Relax, you are simply sleeping in the real world. I see that you have awakened to your hidden power." Igor said.

"You mean my Persona?" I asked.

"Yes. It is of the Fool Arcana which means you have the power of the Wild Card." Igor said. The power of the Wild Card sounded exciting, even though I had no idea what Igor was talking about. "The power of the Wild Card is like the number zero, empty but filled with endless possibilities. It is the power of Persona and the Wild Card that will help you overcome the trials ahead of you and will have you fulfil your role as the Dream Bearer." Igor said. And there was that title again, the Dream Bearer. "Here, take this." Igor said and a blue coloured key appeared before me. I grabbed the key and examined it closely. It almost looked like it was made of velvet too."That key will allow you to visit the Velvet Room while you are in the waking world. Next time we see you, you will come here of your own accord." Igor said.

 **After School**

I woke up from my dream and found myself looking up at a white ceiling, then Arianoli and Jaidenenk came into view.

"Oh, you're awake. You don't have the Sleeping Sickness after all!" Arianoli said tearfully.

"Seriously dude, we were worried. You were out for two and a half days!" Jaidenenk said. I blinked in surprise, I'd never been out for that long.

"That long? I feel great right now, though. Geez, I must have missed a lot of school." I said. I sat up and Jaidenenk dropped a notebook and homework into my lap.

"Don't worry, I copied down notes for you and got homework for you too. I'm not a big contender in academics, I'm pretty average but I knew it would be important to you." Jaidenenk said.

"Thanks man. I owe you one." I said with a smile. Then a nurse, a purple Ogrin came in.

"Oh, Mr Norumi, you're awake! That is very much a relief to all of us here." She said with a relieved smile on her face. "Let me just take your vitals so we can see how you're doing."

She checked me over and determined that I seemed to be just fine. "Let me just fetch the doctor to see what his verdict is. He'll probably want to keep you overnight for observation." The nurse said and she left the room.

"Man, I'm thirsty as hell. Would you mind if I went to get a drink?" Jaidenenk said.

"Not really. Go on ahead." I said.

"Could you bring one back for me, please?" Arianoli asked.

"Sure, Ari. Okay, I'll be right back." Jaidenenk said and he too left the room. Arianoli leaned in closer to me and began to speak in quiet tones.

"I was really worried for you. I guess this is what Seriya meant by you needing rest."

"Yeah, I guess. I need to go back and talk to her some more. She knows why I have this power and I'd like to know." I said.

"Would you, take me too?"

My eyes widened in surprise.

"Don't you remember what happened? You got attacked by those Shadows or whatever they're called!" I exclaimed, albeit in hushed tones.

"I do remember. But you have a Persona, you'd protect me, wouldn't you? Besides, I'm your friend and it wouldn't be right for you to go alone. So I'm going whether you want me to or not!" Arianoli states proudly. I shook my head, but I was smiled as I did.

"Oh alright. I know better than to ever try and stop you." I said.

"Ha! You know me too well already!" Arianoli said with a giggle. Then I started to feel strange, but a good and tingly kind of strange. Then I heard Janus speaking inside my head.

 _Thou art I and I am thou_

 _Thou hast established a new bond_

 _Thou must nurture this newfound bond_

 _So it may give thee thy strength on the path ahead_

 _Thou shalt now be blessed_

 _When creating Personas of the Lovers Arcana_

The feeling faded away when Janus stopped speaking. What Janus said then did leave me with a few questions. It seemed that establishing "bonds" as he put it would give me strength for what the future may hold. But he had also said something about creating Personas and there was also the mention of the Lovers Arcana. I knew that the Lovers Arcana was a thing in tarot cards and now that tarot had come to mind, the Fool Arcana was also a tarot card. I resolved to ask Igor about this whenever I got around to it as he had mentioned the Fool Arcana and was probably the best guy to ask.

"Hey, are you alright?" Arianoli asked. Shoot! I'd forgotten she was still standing there.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I just spaced out for a moment there." I replied.

 **Nighttime**

Visiting hours had ended two hours ago and during that time I finished up my homework from the days of school I missed. It was nice of Jaiden to do that for me, the guy he'd only known for a couple of days. Even if his handwriting was kinda messy making his notes kinda hard to study with. As the nurse said he would, the doctor decided to keep me overnight for observation and if I still seemed fine tomorrow, I could go back to the dorm. Rosalere and Mikasa had visited me in the hospital and were relieved to find that I was awake and apparently they had been visiting everyday I had been at the hospital after school because they were worried about me. It was nice to know that they cared to some degree, even though it might be because they don't want my parents to kill them. Arianoli and Jaidenenk promised to come to the hospital to either pick me up or keep me company, depending on how things turned out tomorrow. I personally couldn't wait for tomorrow. I was sure that I would be fine and I needed to plan with Arianoli when we would go and see Seriya. I could tell that the mysterious Light Faerie had a lot to say.

 **Author's Note: Social link get! For those who don't know what a Social Link is, an explanation is incoming. For now, just know that they are important.**

 **Social Links**

 **Arianoli Boardare - Lovers Arcana: Rank 1**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Neopets and the Persona Series belong to Jumpstart and Atlus respectively.**

 **07/04/18 Saturday**

 **Morning**

The doctor confirmed that I was perfectly healthy and discharged me. I got back all my belongings, apart from my short sword which I assumed I had left behind, but including my dreamcatcher which I hung around my neck. I might as well since it was my link to Janus, my Persona. I also had the addition of some medicine, thinking it might help in the Dream Realm. But as I was about to sit in the lobby to wait for Arianoli and Jaidenenk, paramedics from an ambulance suddenly burst in with a one of those hospital rolling beds. I stood up and went cold when I saw who was in the bed. It was Arianoli and her eyes were closed and I heard saying the words "Sleeping Sickness". It looks like that maybe our trip into the Dream Realm had affected Ari more than either of us thought it did. I despaired for a moment before wondering if the Sleeping Sickness had anything to do with the Dream Realm. If it did, I could possibly save her? With that possibility in mind, I ran out the hospital to get to the temple. Or, I would have if a strong grip hadn't suddenly clamped around my arm.  
"Where do you think you are going, Shinji?"  
I turned around and saw that Jaidenenk had his hand around my upper arm. He must come in with the paramedics that brought in Arianoli.  
"Jaidenenk, let me go now." I said calmly.  
"Not before you tell me where you are rushing off to! You saw that they just brought in Arianoli, didn't you? Don't you care?" Jaidenenk said accusingly.  
"I do care! That's why I have to go, to save her before it's too late!" I blurted out without thinking. Jaidenenk raised his eyebrows then an "aha" look came over his face.  
"Something happened at that temple that you two didn't tell me about, right? And that something might allow you to save Arianoli from the sickness?" He asked.  
"It's a possibility, which is why you must let me go." I reply.  
"Not so fast! I want in." Jaidenenk said. I hesitated, I didn't want to bring Jaidenenk into the Dream Realm where he might get hurt. "Look, Ari's been my best friend since forever. If there's a way to help her, I want in on it. It's the least I can do for her." Jaidenenk said, looking desperate. After that, I couldn't refuse him, an extra person might be useful anyway.

 **Daytime**

In the Temple of the Kazeriu, I brought Jaidenenk to what I had begun to call the Constellation Room. The portal opened up as soon as we arrived and Jaidenenk jumped back in shock.  
"Woah! That's what you were talking about? So this portal will take us to that Dream Realm, right?" Jaidenenk said. I had explained a little to him on the way.  
"That's right. Now, let's go. We have no time to waste" I said. Jaidenenk nodded and we jumped through the portal together.

Once again, I found myself in the pastel world of the Dream Realm and Seriya was standing before us.  
"You've returned and not a moment too soon. A huge nightmare, a Boss Nightmare just appeared to torment someone in your realm. I have seen this many times, helpless to do anything. But unlike me, you can fight. You can do something!" Seriya said. Hope swelled in my chest. "But who is this you brought with you and where your friend from last time? I did not think she'd stay away." Seriya said, confused.  
"This is Jaidenenk, another one of my friends and the girl came with me last time, I'm afraid she's the one that the Boss Nightmare you mentioned came to torment." I replied.  
"Hang on a minute. Where are we?" Jaidenenk asked.  
"This is the Dream Realm." I told him.  
"Indeed. This realm is the place you visit when you go to sleep and dream. All of Neopet-kinds' and Faerie-kinds' Dreamworlds are here in this realm." Seriya added.  
"Oh… No wonder it looks so weird…" Jaidenenk said.  
"Anyway, as we were discussing, your friend is the one who the Boss Nightmare is tormenting. To save her, you'll need to go into her Dreamworld and defeat the Boss Nightmare inside of it. You and your Persona should be able to do it. But be wary, nightmares, especially Boss Nightmares attract Shadows. Does your friend have something to protect himself with?" Seriya asked.  
"Wait, you didn't tell me I needed to bring a weapon! I could have bought something from my Battledome set!" Jaidenenk complained.  
"I thought if there were Shadows, I could make them solely focus on me." I said.  
"It is a fact that Shadows will focus more on Persona Users than on non-Persona Users. But they can also be unpredictable so your friend should have something to protect himself with. I should have something here." Seriya said and she reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out a spear much longer than the folds of her dress and handed it to Jaidenenk. Jaidenenk and I were equally dumbfounded at how a three metre long spear came out of her dress.  
"How the hell was this in your dress?!" Jaidenenk burst out.  
"This is the Dream Realm, things happen here that can't happen in your realm. For example, Shinji surely you've noticed that you no longer have your short sword." Seriya said.  
"Well, yeah. I figured I left it here somewhere." I replied.  
"That is correct, in a sense. Try imagining it appearing in your hand." Seriya said. I imagined the short sword that Seriya had given me in my first visit appearing in my hand and to my surprise, it did.  
"Woah! That's seriously cool! Will it change into something else if I imagine it changing?" I exclaimed.  
"You could if you were in your own Dreamworld. While in the Dream Realm and in others Dreamworlds, you're stuck with what you've got. Although there might be a way to get a better short sword than the one that you've got. I've never had anyone who needed anything better than what I could provide. Anyway, those weapons are yours to use in the Dream Realm and Dreamworlds and only those places. These weapons can't be taken into your realm." Seriya explained. Then a look of realisation came to Seriya's face. "Oh yes, you might need these too." She said. Then she produced from the folds in her dress a pistol and a revolver. "Some Shadows are weak to gun fire so these are yours to use in the Dream Realm too. Use the one that tickles your fancy." She continued with a smile. Jaidenenk's eyes went wide at the sight of guns.  
"You're giving high school students guns." He said incredulously.  
"Does that really matter when your life could depend on whether you have these or not? Besides, you're much more than high school students in the Dream Realm and no one in your realm would be able to know you have these." Seriya countered.  
"Um, I'll take the pistol and you take the revolver?" I said, taking the pistol.  
"Yeah, okay." Jaidenenk said, reluctantly taking the revolver.  
"Alright, now that you are both suitably armed, I'll lead you to the Dreamworld the Boss Nightmare is in." Seriya said. She lead us through what seemed like an endless landscape of pastel colours and golden orbs of light until she stopped an orb that was gold, but had a purple sheen overlaying it. "This is the afflicted Dreamworld, you can tell because of the purple sheen. You can enter Dreamworlds by touching them." Seriya said.  
"So that's Ari's Dreamworld?" He asked.  
"Most likely." Seriya replied. Jaidenenk slowly nodded and then squared his shoulders.  
"I'm coming Ari!" He shouted and touched the orb before either Seriya or I could stop him.  
"Wait, Jaidenenk! Dammit, he's gone!" I said in frustration. "We better follow him."  
"Agreed, he won't last for too long without his own Persona." Seriya said. We both touched the orb and got pulled into Arianoli's Dreamworld.

Seriya and I found ourselves the foyer of a lavish, Altadorian-style mansion. I looked around but Jaidenenk didn't seem to be around.  
"He's not here." I murmured. Seriya shrugged.  
"He couldn't have gotten far. He's either upstairs or on the ground floor." She said.  
"Then let's search here on the ground floor first." I said. I went to the left and found myself in a dining room of sorts, but I wasn't alone, a Shadow roamed the room.  
"A Shadow! Try and sneak up from it from behind. That way, you'll definitely strike first. Striking it without sneaking up on it will give the first strike to whoever is fastest. But don't let it sneak up on you or let it strike you first otherwise it will strike first and any other Shadows with it will surround you, meaning you can't escape. You can actually die here in the Dream Realm so for Fyora's sakes, be careful!" Seriya explained. I snuck up behind the Shadow as quietly and stealthily as I could, then when I got close enough, I struck it with my short sword. The Shadow was startled by my strike and as Seriya said, I had the first strike. My enemy was a Faerie-like creature with short, red hair and wearing a leotard and a pair of long boots. "That's a Pixie of the Lovers Arcana." Seriya said from the sidelines. I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "Oh yeah, I can scan Shadows and get information on them. It take time to get stuff like their weakness though. But it's airborne so it should be weak to gunfire. Exploit weaknesses when you can as hitting a weakness will stun them and you'll be able to strike again. But don't let them exploit yours as getting hit with your weakness will do the same." Seriya explained. I nodded and aimed at the Pixie with my pistol, I shot at and to my surprise, actually hit it. As Seriya thought, it was weak to gunfire as it dropped to the ground stunned.  
"Now! Attack it again!" Seriya said. I summoned Janus and used Agi this time. The Pixie wasn't weak to Agi, but it went down regardless. "Good job, Shinji. But remember you won't always have a Shadow's weakness and in that case you'll just have to pummel it as hard you can. Shadows also have resistances and some outright block or reflect types of damage. Your Persons might have the same. I'll keep note of all the weaknesses, resistances and such, but you should at least remember what your own Persona is weak and strong against, okay?" Seriya said.  
"Okay, Seriya. I'll try." I replied and continued through the other rooms on the ground floor.

On my way I tackled more Pixies, Incubuses and the new Pyro Jacks on my way through. I found Jaidenenk in a huge Ballroom on the ground floor.  
"Jaidenenk, there you are." I said tiredly.  
"Oh, hey Shinji. I haven't found Arianoli yet, have you?" Jaidenenk said.  
"Is that all you have to say for yourself after going on ahead without me?! It's dangerous when you don't have a Persona of your own and you can get killed here! What would I say to Arianoli if you got killed in her Dreamworld?" I growled.  
"Oh, Geez. Sorry man, I wasn't even thinking about what might happen. I'll stick with you from now on." Jaidenenk said, having the decency to look sheepish about it. Then, Seriya gasped.  
"Oh no…" She whispered.  
"What is it, Seriya?" I asked her.  
"A second Boss Nightmare has entered the Dreamworld and it's coming straight for us! But why?! Two Boss Nightmares coming to torment one person shouldn't be possible!" She exclaimed.  
"And it's not. Because I'm not here for whom this Dreamworld belongs to, I'm here for someone else." An unknown voice said. Then an Eventide Kougra that looked just like Jaidenenk appeared before us. But as I looked at them, I noticed they actually looked a little different from Jaidenenk. They had bright yellow eyes compared to Jaidenenk's gold and they wore a brown shirt, brown pants and a deep purple cloak. They looked like Jaidenenk if he were a thief. Its voice was Jaidenenk's, but had a much more sinister voice overlaying it. I then looked at the real Jaidenenk and saw he was trembling in fear.  
"So, you're a Boss Nightmare?" I asked the fake Jaidenenk.  
"Yeah, but I'm not here for you. Persona Users like you can't have Boss friend on the other hand can. I suppose if you must refer to me, call me Nightmare Jaidenenk. I'm here because he has some major fears." Nightmare Jaidenenk said. "So, where do I start? Oh yeah, how is being half-blind working out for you? Must not be working out too well since you wear that phony contact that makes your eye look like it's gold like your other one."  
Then Nightmare Jaidenenk pointed at the real Jaidenenk and the said contact popped out of his right eye. I saw that instead of gold, it was a milky blue and white, showing that he was indeed blind in that eye. Jaidenenk quickly covered his blind eye and began looking for the contact that had popped out.  
"Don't bother, you won't find it. You have hundreds of replacements anyway. I guess it shows that crime doesn't pay. Stealing from a powerful Pharaoh wasn't a piece of cake like all your other tomb-robbing endeavours now was it?" Nightmare Jaidenenk continued.  
"You used to be a tomb-robber?!" I asked Jaidenenk incredulously.  
"I hoped no one would find out… I'm not proud of it and I probably cheated a lot of archaeologists like your folks out of rare finds. But I had to in my younger years." Jaidenenk said, looking ashamed.  
"Oh, you didn't tell him? I bet you didn't tell your beloved best friend that you were a criminal either. All the teachers at the school know though. That's why they look down on you, you know and so would everyone else if they knew. Oh how that would break your heart if she began to look down on you." Nightmare Jaidenenk said gleefully. "But she really should he looking down on you. She has all that wealth and status. She's also smoking hot, way too good for an orphan like you, yeah? You've only been able to go to such prestigious schools because she persuaded her father that you were worth it. But are you really? Would she have been able to convince him if he knew you were a criminal. I wonder what she would think if she knew! All that wealth and status she has, she'd probably reject you. Especially if you confessed how much you like her! She'd never want to be your girlfriend."  
"Stop, stop it!" Jaidenenk yelled at Nightmare Jaidenenk, his voice quavering. He was shaking violently and his eyes were full of fear.  
"Why, are you scared? Scared of what I know, of what I talked about?" Nightmare Jaidenenk asked.  
"Just leave me alone!" Jaidenenk shouted angrily.  
"Oh fine, go ahead and reject me. Your rejection and fear only make me stronger and I know you fear me. After all, I am your Nightmare!" Nightmare Jaidenenk said. It then transformed into a giant Kougra, dressed as a Pharaoh laying in an upright, golden, glowing coffin with linen wraps writhing all around it from inside. I grabbed the dreamcatcher around my neck tightly, ready to summon Janus.  
"Shinji, retreat!" Seriya suddenly shouted.  
"What, why?" I asked her.  
"That Nightmare is feeding off Jaidenenk's fear and resentment of it! As a result, it's become too powerful for you to handle. You both must retreat before it kills you both!" Seriya replied, panicked by this new development.  
"Oh no you don't!" Jaidenenk's Nightmare said. It blocked all the exits with its linen wraps. "I'm going to see how he'll react once I kill you in front of him before I kill him! I will leave such a lasting impression that his fear of me will continue to fuel me into the afterlife!" It said, laughing maniacally. Dying to a Boss Nightmare was not on my bucket list and seeing as it was growing stronger beside of Jaidenenk's fear, I knew that the only way it would go back to being manageable was to make Jaidenenk not afraid of it anymore. I did the only thing I could think of doing, I called out to him.  
"Jaidenenk! I know it said your fears, but just because it knows what you fear doesn't mean you should fear it! All it can really do to you is talk, it can only harm you if you let it! And Jaidenenk, I don't care what you did in the past. I'm your friend and I always stand by you no matter what. Because that's what friends do."

"Because that's what friends do."  
With those words, Shinji managed to break through and dispel my fear. He was right, my Nightmare was pretty much all talk. All bark and no bite. Why should I fear it if that's all it was? Shinji's words empowered me and I no longer feared the Boss Nightmare. In fact, I was going to kill it for daring to suggest killing my friend in front of me.  
"Hey, you! So maybe I do fear all those things you said. Heck, I know I do. But you know what? I fear all that stuff, but I sure as hell aren't afraid of you! I don't fear you anymore than I fear an Angelpuss!" I yelled at it.  
"What?! NO?!" The Nightmare squealed and although it didn't change again, I could tell it was much weaker than it was before.  
"Yeah! Go Jaidenenk!" I heard Shinji call out. But suddenly, I felt a torturous pain racking my body. I cried out in pain and I heard a voice that I felt was from deep inside me.  
" _So you finally understand what is to fear and what is to conquer"_ It said to me. " _Let us conquer this monster together and make it rue the day it decided it could get the better of us."_

"Yes, let's. 'Cause it can't!" I said, getting excited despite the pain.  
" _Alright! Thou art I and I am thou! Let us rain heavenly bolts down upon our enemies!"_

A dreamcatcher appeared before me, not too dissimilar to Shinji's. But mine's web and circle was all made of zigzags and the gem in the middle was blue while the gem in his was grey. I grabbed the Dreamcatcher and suddenly a giant Eventide Kougra in Altadorian armour appeared before me. He held a spear that looked like a lighting bolt and long sandy blonde hair, like mine, flowed from beneath his helmet.  
" _I am Jupiter, God of Lightning and Thunder and just like thou is me, I am thou."_

I gaped at Jaidenenk and what seemed to be his new Persona in shock.  
"You have a Persona too! What a fortuitous time for that to be discovered. Since Jaidenenk both has a Persona and is no longer afraid of his Nightmare, you two should be more than a match for it." Seriya said.  
Hell, yeah! Come on, Shinji! Let's me, you and Jupiter pummel this crackpot into the ground!" Jaidenenk said excitedly.  
"Hey, we gotta invite Janus to the party too." I said with a grin.  
"Gah! I don't care if you're not scared of me anymore! I'll crush you anyway!" Nightmare Jaidenenk yelled angrily.  
"Good god, you need to shut up already!" Jaidenenk said. Jaidenenk was faster than me so he went before me. He zapped his Nightmare with an electric attack I recognised as Zio from the Pixies who had zapped me and Janus with it before. It turned out that Nightmare Jaidenenk was weak to it and Seriya shared another tidbit with us.  
"Now that there is more than one of you, you can do something else when an enemy is stunned from exploiting their weakness. You can do an All-Out Attack! Basically get in there and pummel it until it's able to push you away and get up again. Shinji, you've got seniority so you call for the All-Out Attack!"  
"This all okay with you, Jaiden?" I asked Jaidenenk.  
"Fine by me, Shinji. You can be the boss while I beat things into oblivion!" Jaidenenk replied happily.  
"Alright then! All-Out Attack!"  
Then we did what Seriya said and pummeled Jaidenenk's Nightmare until it was able to push us away and get up. I was faster than it so I was able to follow up with Agi. But danger came when it used Garu, a wind spell, on me, something I was weak to because Janus was. I was stunned from being hit with my weakness and it managed to strike me with one of its linen wraps.  
"Are you alright, dude?!" Jaidenenk called out to me.  
"Yeah, I'll be alright! I'll just see about guarding next time" I called back. Seriya had taught me earlier that guarding covers up my weakness so I can't be stunned by it. So by Jaidenenk using Zio, both of us using the All-Out Attack and me guarding to cover my weakness to Nightmare Jaidenenk's Garu spells, we were victorious. It turned back into the form it previously was in and this time it was scared of us. It skittered away from us and started to get smaller and smaller until it simply went out of existence.  
"Congrats, you two. You just beat a Boss Nightmare." Seriya said delightedly.  
"Yeah, that felt hella great. But I'm tired as now." Jaidenenk said.  
"But we still need to save Arianoli." I sighed. I was tired too and had no idea how far we'd need to go to get to Arianoli.  
"Don't worry. She can wait until you two are fully rested again. The Boss Nightmares normally take a couple of weeks or so to finish off who they are tormenting so you two can rest for today and come back tomorrow when you are fully rested up." Seriya said. I would be lying if I said that we wouldn't jump for joy after hearing that if we weren't too tired to. We left Arianoli's Dreamworld and then exited the Dream Realm through the portal which Seriya could summon at will.

 **Nighttime**

When we got home, Jaidenenk went straight to his room to get some shut eye. I managed to microwave a small pizza for dinner before doing the same. But before closing my eyes, I swear I heard Seriya's voice say these words.  
"To get others to face their fearful Nightmares and turn them into sweet Dreams. This is your power as the Dream Bearer."

 **Author's Note:** **Whew. This was an exciting chapter eh? And Jaidenenk got a Persona of his own. Personas for EVERYONE! Anyway let's get to explaining Jaidenenk's new Persona, the new Shadows and Jaidenenk's Nightmare.**

 **Jupiter is the Roman God of Thunder and is the leader of all the Roman Gods. As Jaidenenk's Persona he is of the Chariot Arcana. This Persona is a powerhouse, mostly learning Zio and Physical skills, but will learn the odd support skill which will be used to buff himself and his allies.**

 **Now on the the Shadows.**

 **Pixie is of the Lovers Arcana. A starter of many Persona and Shin Megami Tensei games, she learns spells like Zio and Dia and will probably be the earliest thing you'll be able to get as a healer. Well, unless you have someone like Morganna from Persona 5 early on.**

 **Pyro Jack is of the Magician Arcana. One of the three Jacks in the Series, he is modeled after Jack o' lanterns and basically look like ghosts wearing purple robes, a pair of gloves and a pumpkin serving as a head. They learn Agi spells but are less popular than one of their brothers, Jack Frost.**

Nightmare Jaidenenk or Jaidenenk's Nightmare is also of the Chariot Arcana, but reversed. He was formed from all from all of Jaidenenk's fears and manifested as himself from when he was a tomb-robber and later on as a Pharaoh as a reference to what made him blind in his right eye. It wasn't always that way. Nightmare Jaidenenk mostly used Garu because of Janus's weakness to it. But it did start to throw in a physical move once Shinji started blocking his weakness.


	6. Chapter 6

**08/04/18 Sunday**

 **Morning**

I woke up that morning refreshed, not surprising since I slept like a log. With today's goal in mind, Jaidenenk and I quickly got through our breakfast and got ready to go back to the Dream Realm to save Ari as soon as possible. Before we headed out, Jaidenenk stopped me outside of my room.

"Shinji, I couldn't say this yesterday since I was Gelert-tired, but thank you. Hearing that you would stick by me, that you'd still be my friend. That meant a lot to me, especially after all my fears were laid bare like that." Jaidenenk said.

"Hey, it's no problem man. You and Arianoli are the first friends I've had in forever and you two just so quickly accepting me as a friend. No one has ever done that for me before and I remember how nice it is to have friends now." I said with a smile.

"So you really don't mind that I was a tomb-robber?" Jaidenenk asked.

"Really, I don't mind at all. It's in the past and you had your reasons. I feel like with the kind of person you are, you wouldn't have done it if you had the choice." I replied. "Anyway, your Nightmare said something else interesting."

"Oh yeah?" Jaidenenk said, looking a bit nervous.

"I didn't forget it said that you like Arianoli." I whispered in his ear. Jaidenenk went an interesting shade of tomato, which said all I needed to know. "When were you going to tell her that?" I asked him.

"Never! She's too good for me!" Jaidenenk replied, flustered.

"Honestly, I think you might find she feels the same, on love and on not caring what you were in the past." I said.

"You really think so?" Jaidenenk said. I nodded, confident in what I was saying.

"You two have been close for years, right? Why wouldn't she want to get closer to a cool guy like you who has all the girls staring at him?" I said with a grin.

"Girls stare at me? I actually never noticed." Jaidenenk said.

"Of course you didn't. It happens when you have eyes for only one." I teased.

"Oh ha, ha. Come on, Shinji. Let's go save Ari and let's see if we can do it in style." Jaidenenk said, breaking out into a grin. Then the tingly feeling came back along with Janus speaking to me in my head.

 _Thou art I and I am thou_

 _Thou hast established a new bond_

 _Thou must nurture this newfound bond_

 _So it may give thee thy strength on the path ahead_

 _Thou shalt now be blessed_

 _When creating Personas of the Chariot Arcana_

Another Arcana from tarot. I really needed to ask Igor about this. Then I remembered where I was and that Jaidenenk was still looking at me expectantly. I quickly nodded to Jaidenenk, hoping he hadn't noticed the lapse.

"Yeah, let's!"

 **Daytime**

Back in Arianoli's dreamworld, we swept the first floor of the mansion again to make sure that we hadn't missed anything. After finding nothing new, we decided to move on to the second floor. I felt slightly more confident about exploring having three Goho-m's in hand that Seriya had given me. A Goho-m would take us straight out of Ari's dreamworld and back into the Dream Realm, which was useful if Jaidenenk and I got into a tight spot and needed to get out right there and then.

"If this is truly the Boardare Mansion in dreamform, my quarters and other empty quarters should be on this floor. Also, I think that Arianoli may be on the third floor as that's where her quarters are" Jaidenenk said. He had knowledge of the Boardare Mansion, having stayed there for long periods of time.

"Yeah, but to get up to the third floor we need to use the elevator and to use it we need a keycard." I said.

"If it is required to proceed, a Shadow must have it." Seriya informed us.

"Oh, marvelous." I said sarcastically. Jaidenenk patted, or more aptly, pounded my back making me stagger a little.

"Eh, we'll take down any Shadows that stand our way easily." He said, brimming with confidence. I shrugged, figuring he was probably right. The first Shadows we ran into was another Pixie like the several we had run into before.

"Wait! I have one more thing to teach you!" Seriya called, stalling us. "There is something else you can do when you exploit an enemies weakness. You can talk to Shadows and ask them to offer items or money in exchange for their life. Shadows often carry all sorts of items and Neopoints. They were created in a place meant for Neopets and Faeries so it makes sense they would value the same things. Now, hit that Pixie with something that it's weak to."

I had higher speed than Jaiden so I went first. I shot down the Pixie with my pistol and as went into position for the All-Out-Attack, I spoke up.

"Hey, you! We'll spare you if you have any money or items to give us!" I said to the Pixie. The Pixie looked up at me and actually spoke.

"You would really let me go if I gave you money or an item? Well, this is super awkward because I actually don't have anything on me." She replied.

"Oh my. That is awkward and ruins my teaching moment too." Seriya muttered.

"Wait, although I may not have anything, there is something I can do for you. I can just offer myself! I remembered I'm not a Shadow." The Pixie said.

"Wha?" Jaidenenk said, looking as confused as I felt.

"I'm Pixie and as long as you take care of me, I am you." The Pixie said and suddenly she turned into a glittering light that went into my Dreamcatcher. I knew that somehow, I now had two Personas.

"What?! You, you made that Pixie into a second Persona?!" Seriya said in shock.

"Um… Yes?" I said, just as shocked and bewildered.

"Aw, no fair! Why do you get two Personas?" Jaidenenk said, looking rather envious.

"Well, that was a surprise, but this is good! We can use this to our advantage!" Seriya said, a note of excitement in her voice. "Since you seem to able to wield multiple Personas, you'll be very versatile and be able to handle any situation or take any job in battle. Of course, I believe those who can only hold one Persona like Jaidenenk will always do what their Persona does best, better than what you can with a similar Persona. Just keep that in mind."

I nodded, filing what Seriya had said away for when I needed it.

We continued on and entered Jaidenenk's quarters. The first room was big and rather empty.

"Uh, there's five rooms to each quarters including the bathroom and bedroom. I've only got stuff in my bedroom and one other room. I'm working on it through." Jaidenenk said sheepishly.

"No worries man. I don't think I could fill up five rooms this big either." I admitted. After going through two more empty rooms until arriving in Jaidenenk's bedrooms and finding a person in dark armour, riding what looked like a red, wingless and hornless Uni. He looked more powerful than most of the Shadows we'd already met.

"He looks important. Think he's got the keycard?" Jaidenenk whispered to me.

"Well, there's really only one way to find out." I whispered back. We approached the Shadow and it spoke.

"I was told to expect your arrival." It said, then it held up the keycard we were looking for. "I was told you'd want this. Come at me, if you dare to."

"Oh, we dare!" Jaidenenk said and we both jumped into battle.

"That's a Berith of the Hierophant Arcana. Something messing up my scan though so I don't know what it's weakness is!" Seriya said. It ended up that whatever the Berith was weak to, we didn't have it, so we just had to pound it into the ground as hard as we could. We eventually defeated it and got the keycard. Jaidenenk picked up the keycard and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Aw… This is an employee keycard. Employees aren't allowed on Ari's floor. We need a house-member card and if there isn't one in here, it must be in Andrés office, which we will be able to get to with this." He explained. After he said that a weird feeling swept through the room and I heard Arianoli's voice echo throughout it.

" _Jaidenenk is such a nice guy. I feel no shame whatsoever having him as my friend. No matter what those snobs think. They think they I shouldn't associate with those under my social standing. Why should we gave a damn about that?Their ancestors weren't so different before they came into their money and my Daddy wasn't so different either. But they'll never understand and while it never shows on the outside, my heart always bleeds on the inside because I'll never be good enough. I'd never tell him what they think of him though. He doesn't deserve that pain being heaped on him as well."_

The weird feeling passed as Arianoli's last words faded away.

"I… I would have been able to bear it if she had let me." Jaidenenk said. "I'm used to being shit-talked."

"Well, we better get to Arianoli so you can tell her that." I said to him.

We took the elevator to the fourth floor, the floor where all the work for the Boardare Corporation took place. We worked our way down to Andrés', Arianoli's father's, office only to find we needed a key to get into the office which was either in the possession of a Shadow or was laying out on the floor somewhere. We searched thoroughly encountering there new Shadows called Silky, Agathion and Succubus. I managed to get an Agathion on my side, bringing my Persona count up to three. Jaidenenk still seemed a little jealous, but kept his head in the game. We soon came across a fancy lounge room decked out in red velvet and dark leather. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

"Never been in this room." Jaidenenk murmured.

"Sure is swanky." I replied. _And mysteriously shadow-free._ I thought to myself. Then I spied a keyring with a bunch of golden keys. It was obvious that one of them was the right key. I tried to pick up the key ring but was instantly repelled straight into a wall. Ouch.

"Geez! Are you okay, man?!" Jaiden asked me as he helped me back on my feet.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just didn't expect to be pushed back by a bunch of keys." I said. Then a black figure rose from the floor and picked up the keyring.

"Only one." It hissed. Its meaning was clear, we could only choose one key.

"Right, any ideas on what the right one is?" I asked.

"Don't look at me. I know nothing." Seriya replied.

"Dang, I never saw the key. But I do remember Ari telling me the key to her Dad's office was not the kind of key a rich man would use." Jaidenenk said. I thought on this for a while. Not the kind of key a rich man would use. None of the glittering golden keys seemed to fit the description, them all being so ornate and shiny. Then I spotted a dull, silver key hiding amongst the rest of the keys. As I looked at it, I got a strong feeling that it was the right key and without thinking I pointed at it and said,

"That's the one."

And it dropped from the keyring into my hand.

"You have chosen wisely. Fyoraspeed to you." The black figure said and disappeared along with the rest of the keys.

"I guess this is the one." I said.

"She was right. It is rather plain and dull, not something you'd think a rich man would use. Probably the idea." Jaidenenk added. Then the weird feeling we felt in Jaidenenk's room came again and new voices came with it.

" _Oh, Miss Boardare! Would you consider meeting my son? He's very interested in meeting you."_

" _Interested in my money you mean."_

" _Miss Arianoli! Such a perfect young lady you are! You must have suitors lining up to marry you."_

" _Only for my status."_

" _Arianoli, why do you associate with that common boy?"_

" _He's my friend…"_

" _Ugh, you shouldn't be friends with commoners!"_

" _Why not, Jaidenenk's just as much of a person as we are."_

" _He's not of the correct pedigree."_

" _And unless you want to be Nouveau Riche forever, you'll marry someone of your social standing."_

" _And that common Kougra is far below you."_

" _He's a disgrace and you'll be too if you keep being around him."_

" _No, that's not true! Stop it. Stop it! STOP IT! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"_

Jaidenenk and I winced at the scream at the end.

"I had no idea she had to deal with all of that…" Jaidenenk said quietly.

"It is quite sickening. Whom she spends her time with is her choice and her business." Seriya said, looking disgusted.

"I think both times we just heard what Arianoli's truly afraid of. She's afraid of the criticism and attention she gets just because of her wealth, looks and status because she fears it's all others will ever see her for in the end." I said sadly. Jaidenenk straightened his shoulders, a new determination shone in his eyes.

"Well, we'll show her that's not the case. We see her for the great person she is and we'll prove that to her! Right, Shinji?" He said.

"You betcha!" I replied.

Of course, things could never be easy for us. When I unlocked the office door, we found a Shadow waiting for us. It was a humanoid wearing armour with a pair of feathery wings sticking out the back of it. Naturally it had the key. But it wasn't one for words and attacked us as soon as we had stepped through the door, keycard in hand.

"Sorry, guys. You're on your own. All I'm getting here is that it's called an Archangel and it's of the Justice Arcana!" Seriya said. Her scanning abilities were leaving much to be desired. Thankfully, Jaidenenk was able to take it down with his Zio spell and with the All-Out-Attack on top of that, it fell to our might. Jaidenenk picked up the card and smiled.

"Yes! This is exactly the keycard we need! We can now get to Arianoli's floor!" Jaidenenk said.

"It's likely the Boss Nightmare is there. I hope you two are ready for a big fight." Seriya said. Jaidenenk and I both knew we were more than ready. We were going to kick ass.

We arrived on the fourth floor and rushed to Arianoli's room and found two Arianolis. The one wearing the Shenkuu Imperial High School uniform was quite obviously the real one as the one facing her was was wearing a black dress with a printed heart that seemed to be bleeding.

"Oh, an audience! How delightful!" The other Arianoli said. It spoke with Arianoli's voice overlaid with same sinister voice Nightmare Jaidenenk's voice was.

"What are you two doing here?! Get out of here!" The real Arianoli yelled at us.

"Oh dear. Neither of us seem to have our manners today, hm? Well, let me fix that in my case. You may call me Nightmare Arianoli." Nightmare Arianoli said with a sickly grin. "As for you, why do you want our audience to leave? Oh I get it. You're afraid aren't you? Afraid for them to know about how much of a bleeding heart you are. How you decided to attend a boarding high school just so you could get away from everyone who criticised you and only associated with you because of money. But it didn't end now did it? It just followed you except everyone just talks about everything behind your back. About your wealth, about your status, about your looks and about your disgraceful crush on-."

"No! Don't say it!" Arianoli pleaded.

"Say what? Say you have an endless crush on Jaidenenk Cloud who is standing right there? Oops." Nightmare Arianoli said. The heart on her dress began to bleed profusely.

"Wait a minute, what?" Jaidenenk said, his mind obviously mind blown even though it was not the time for that.

"I, I didn't want you to know." Arianoli sobbed.

"I know every single skeleton in your closet, dear. You're scared of them and in turn are scared of me. After all, I am your Nightmare." Nightmare Arianoli said. It then transformed into a princess, locked in chains with a bleeding heart on her chest. "And now her crush and friend will die!" Nightmare Arianoli gloated.

"Arianoli's fear of it is too great for you to fight it!" Seriya said in a panic.

"Jaidenenk! You've got to say something to her! You're the only one that could snap her out of this!" I called to him.

I heard Shinji call out to me and I knew was right. But what could I say that would convey how much she meant to me? Then the answer suddenly came to me. No words were needed. I made my way to real Arianoli, doing my best to dodge Nightmare Arianoli's strikes. I then kneeled down in front of her. Arianoli looked at me, tears in her eyes and her blond hair in tangles. I gave her a big hug, the biggest hug I had ever given her and just in case the message wasn't quite clear. I spoke to her.

"Arianoli, I like you for the person you are! You're brave, feisty, loyal, kind-hearted and most of all, you saw worth in a worthless street orphan like me. You saw my blind eye and didn't look at me with a mix of disgust and pity. You accepted me for who I am and I will always accept you for who you are. Shinji will too. We know you are so much more than wealth, looks and status and whoever thinks that you aren't isn't even worth a microsecond of your time… I love you, Arianoli."

I gasped. Did Jaidenenk just say that he loved me? And not just that, that he loved me for who I was? And that Shinji liked me for who I was too? I looked at his eyes and he wasn't wearing his contact lense, all his eyes had was sincerity. I then knew that with Jaidenenk and Shinji by my side I had nothing to be afraid of. Much less my Nightmare who was truly quite pathetic.

"You know. I am scared of all those things, some more than others. But I have good friends by my side and with them I have the power to overcome anything, including you! I am not scared of you!" I said to my Nightmare. Jaidenenk's face broke out into a grin and I was sure Shinji's did too. My Nightmare screamed in anguish. Pain suddenly wracked my body and I almost wanted to cry again from the pain. A voice began to speak. " _You've learned that no one's opinion of you really matters besides your own. You're beautiful no matter what. Are you ready to show the beauty you have within as well as the beauty on the outside?"_ It said. " _Let's dazzle the world and beguile everyone who would dare stand against our love for the world!"_

"You're on!" I replied, feeling more alive than I had felt in ages.

" _I was hoping you would say that! I am thou and thou art I! Let us spread love and beauty to all."_

A pink and white dreamcatcher, the strings in the middle forming a heart, appeared before me. I grabbed it and my own Persona burst out of it. She was a beautiful Royal Wocky with long lustrous blond hair. She wore very skimpy pink and white clothes that barely covered her breasts and butt and flat out showed a lot of skin.

"Hello, Persona." I said.

" _I am Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love! I'm every bit as gorgeous as thou and thou is me!"_

Arianoli's Persona was enough to even make the most steadfast monk blush with how beautiful she was. Trust a beautiful girl to have a beautiful Persona.

"Shinji, the Nightmare is weakened enough. Attack it now!" Seriya informed me.

"Hey, Arianoli! Want to join Jaidenenk and me in kicking the ever-loving heck out of your Nightmare?" I called to Ari.

"Do I ever! Let's go, Aphrodite!" She replied.

"Time to kick some butt!" Jaidenenk said enthusiastically. And kick butt we did. It was mostly physical with us, but it's sole magic attack, Bloody Tears was pretty powerful, so powerful that when it telegraphed that it was going to use it, we all guarded. But it was weak to Aphrodite's Bufu spell, which Arianoli dished out with no hesitation. Despite that, Nightmare Arianoli was resilient, even with the debuffs we were dropping on her. But we managed to quite handily beat her and it shrunk out of existence.

"Your nightmare is over now, Ari. Now you should be able to wake up in the real world." I told Arianoli.

"I know. Thank you both, for coming to save me. I would have slept forever if it weren't for you. I'll see you in the waking world." Arianoli said. "And Jaidenenk? We need to have a talk."

"Got it." Jaidenenk said weakly. Then Arianoli disappeared with a flash of light.

"Time to go home. Let's all get out of here so I can get you two home." Seriya said.

 **Late Night**

Jaidenenk and I decided we'll go and see Arianoli tomorrow. Saving her from her Nightmare had taken its toll on us and we didn't want to fall asleep in front of her. For once, my sleep was not troubled by dreams and I could only hope that was a good thing.

 **Authors Note:** **And here we are with more Persona Neo. I know it's been a while. This unfortunately is as usual for me. Anyway, time to explain Arianoli's new Persona, new Shadows and let's not forget Nightmare Arianoli.**

 **Aphrodite is the greek goddess of Love and Beauty. Myths say she was born from the sea, inside a clam shell. She's known for being a jealous cow and being unhappily married to Hephaestus, God of Fire and Metal-working. As a Persona, she is of the Lovers Arcana and she learns the entire line of Bufu spells. She also learns the entire line of healing spells and will also learn status inflicting moves. Most notably, Marin Karin.**

 **The three new Shadows are as follows**

 **Berith is of the Hierophant Arcana. He is, in The Lesser Key of Solomon, the twenty-eighth spirit listed in the Goetia. He rides a gigantic red horse and burns those without manners. He is a Great Duke of Hell with twenty-six legions of demons under his command. He is depicted as a knight or soldier wearing red armour and a golden crown. He's a physical fighter, having skills like Cleave and Double Fangs**

 **Silky is of the Priestess Arcana. She is a Scotland household fairy who wears a dress of rustling silk and does household chores while everyone sleeps. She'll also terrorise any servants that are being lazy. A healer type learning Dia and Patra.**

 **Agathion is of the Chariot Arcana. It is a term used for a familiar that appears in a human or animal form, sometimes in rings and bottles. This particular one is in a jar. Is mostly a support caster, learning skills like Dia and Rakukaja.**

 **Succubus has the Moon Arcana and is the female counterpart to the Incubus. Succubus seduce men instead of women. They are similar to the Incubus in the way of learning skills to debilitate enemies.**

 **Archangel is of the Justice Arcana. Archangels are one of the few bodies of angels that contact those on the material plane directly and are the ministers and messengers between God and mankind. Archangel is understandably equiped with Bless spells like Hama and Makouha.**

 **Now, for Nightmare Arianoli. Their Arcana is the Lovers Arcana, but reversed. She was formed from Arianoli's fear of no one seeing her for who she was and the pain it brought her, hence the bleeding heart. She also felt he was trapped in these perceptions as they did follow her, leading to the chains. She is a heavily physical fighter, using mostly physical skills during her battle. But her magic strength is a force to be reckoned with when she uses Bloody Tears.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: You should all know the drill by now. I own nothing except my OCs.**

 **09/04/18 Monday**

 **After School**

We visited Arianoli at the hospital after a day for not being able to focus at school. Arianoli sat up when we entered the room and while she looked tired, she also looked at peace.

"Hey, you two," Arianoli said with a tired smile. "It's good to see you, I'm already going mad in here."

"You'll be out of here soon." I assured her.

"Mm. Also, I think thanks are in order. You two went to the Dream Realm to save me, didn't you?" Arianoli said.

"Of course we did!" Jaidenenk exclaimed. "We care about you, Ari!"

"I know, you said as much in my dream. But I can't determine what was real in that dream and what was just a dream. So I have some questions…" Arianoli said, twiddling her fingers.

"You want to make sense of what happened by asking us questions as we probably remember it better, being awake during it. Sure, we can do that." I said confidently. Arianoli smiled again.

"Thank you."

So Arianoli asked us many questions, including questions about her Persona, Aphrodite.

"So I didn't dream her or her outfit up. I'm not sure if I should be soothed or worried about that. I mean, what does that say about me?" Arianoli sighed.

"It says you're a sexy rebel." I replied snarkily.

"That was a rhetorical question, smartass." Arianoli countered. "That aside there's one more thing I really want to know if I dreamed up or not. Jaidenenk, did you say that you loved me?"

Jaidenenk blushed furiously and his tail bushed out, looking like a bottle brush.

"A-ah, um…" He stuttered. Don't tell me he was going to deny it! Then the nurse came in and told that Arianoli needed her rest. Arianoli protested, but we were hustled out of the room.

"Oh damn it all!" Jaidenenk moaned when we were out of earshot.

"I'm sure Arianoli is thinking the same thing. Why didn't you say something instead of stammering?" I asked him, quite annoyed.

"It came so easily in the Dream Realm… I don't know why my mind just locked up in the real world." Jaidenenk admitted.

"Well, you still haven't confessed properly if you haven't confessed in the real world. So I could steal her if you take too long."

"Don't you even effing joke about that!"

"I am deadly serious."

Jaidenenk stared at me for a moment before sighing.

"Okay, okay." He said.

"No pressure though." I said.

 **Nighttime**

I headed home after eating out with Jaidenenk while he decided to stay out a little longer. As I came through the dorm door, a Plushie Kacheek with vivid green eyes suddenly slammed into me. Because of her tiny size, she didn't knock me over, but the recoil of slamming into me made her fall onto her back.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked her, holding my hand out.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm okay." She said, taking my hand. I pulled her up and she dusted off her skirt. She was small, typical for a Kacheek and she was wearing the same uniform as all the girls in IHSS. The button she wore on the collar of her shirt said she was a first year. "Sorry for running into you like that. I should have been looking where I was going." She apologised.

"It's alright. Where were you going off to in such a hurry?" I said.

"I'm going out looking for my older brother before he gets locked out of the dorm again." She replied.

"I better not keep you then. I'm Shinji, I live in this dorm too. Catch you later."

"You can call me Daizm. Bye!"

Daizm then ran on out past me. I wondered who her brother was as went up to my room.

 **Late Night**

As I turned the corner from the stairs to get to my room, I spotted a transparent, blue door at the end of the hallway. As I approached, the blue key that Igor had given me began to glow. Not seeing a keyhole, I placed the key against the door and it opened. I entered the Velvet Room.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor said.

"Oh, so that door is a way I can visit here anytime?" I asked.

"That is correct. I believe it is time to describe what services we can offer to you, our guest." Igor said. "One of our primary services is Persona fusion."

"Persona fusion? You can fuse Personas together?" I said.

"Yes, I can fuse two or more of your Personas to create more powerful Personas. I also have noticed you have already made bonds with others. These bonds will also aid in the fusing of powerful Personas and increase your own power overall, so it is important to create and nurture as many bonds as possible. Our previous guests mostly called them Social Links." Igor explained. So what I seen with Arianoli and Jaidenenk were Social Links. And seeing that Janus and my other two Personas had Arcana, the Arcana Lovers and Magician must be their Personas' Arcana.

"Will everyone I make a Social Link with be able to use a Persona?" I asked Igor.

"While everyone in the world is associated with an Arcana, no not everyone can use a Persona." Igor replied.

"I shall now describe my role to you." Alina said. "I can give you and your teammates better weapons to use in the Dream World. I can also imbue weapons with Personas to make them more powerful and give them special properties." Alina explained. "I offer both main weapons and gun weapons but you'll have to pay for them."

"I have to pay for them? What use is neopoints to you?" I said in disbelief.

"Well, neopoints hold value to you and it's interesting studying what you value." Alina said with a slight smile. I sighed and then noticed a blue book on Alina's lap. "What's that book?" I asked her.

"It's the Persona Compendium. You summon back any Personas you may have dismissed or fused away with this. It may be in your best interest to fill it's pages." Alina said.

"So, now that you know our services, would you like to give them a try?" Igor asked.

"Maybe later. It's kinda late in my world and I need to get some sleep." I said apologetically.

"Very well, I await your next visit." Igor said and I exited the Velvet Room.

 **Authors Note:** **So this chapter we see how Arianoli's doing after her ordeal. And Jaidenenk still can't spit it out in the real world. Better luck next time. We also learn about Social Links and the Velvet Room's services. I know Social Linos are called Confidants in Persona 5, but they basically the same thing and this is my story**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: You should all know the drill by now. I own nothing except my OCs.**

 **10/04/18 Tuesday**

 **Morning**

This morning was my first art class with Mr Mikasa Akkaman. I had missed the first art class everyone else had on the account that I had been passed out. We started out with still life sketches and as I was putting on the finishing touches on my sketch, an Alien Aisha wearing many piercings on all six of his ears entered the class.

"Ah, Lindetis. Is it study hall for you?" Mikasa said to him.

"Y-yeah. I hope you and your class don't mind me working on art projects here while class is going on." Lindetis said quietly.

"Of course we don't mind. I mean it when I say to come here anytime." Mikasa replied.

"Thank you, Mr Akkaman." Lindetis said. He moved towards an empty space next to me and I felt him looking over my shoulder at my sketch. "Not bad, you've got potential there." He said quietly to me.

"Thanks. Drawing's been one of my hobbies since I was young." I replied. A small smile came to Lindetis's lips.

"We are two of a kind in that regard. I am Lindetis Tate, third year." Lindetis said, holding out his hand.

"Shinji Norumi, second year. Nice to meet you, Lindetis Tate." I said, shaking his hand. Lindetis got a weird look on his face has our hands touched, but he quickly composed himself.

"No need to be so formal. Lindetis is just fine. I look forward to seeing you reach your potential." Lindetis said and then he sat down next to me. For that class I often stole glances at Lindetis's artwork and it was truly amazing art and it was in all different styles. Lindetis was quite obviously a true artist. Most of his art was sketches which told me that was the artstyle he favoured. I decided that I certainly wouldn't mind to get to know him more.

 **Lunchtime**

As I walked in the cafeteria, I caught sight of Lindetis sitting at a table in the corner with the Kacheek that had crashed into me last night, Daizm. It was unusual to see a third year sitting with a first year as everyone tended to sit with people of the same year as them. As I studied them I noticed what I hadn't earlier, I saw that Lindetis had the same striking green eyes I had noted Daizm having. Then it hit me, they must be siblings! I grabbed my lunch and headed over to their table.

"May I sit here?" I asked them.

"Oh, you're the one from the second year art class, of course you may." Lindetis said quietly.

"My brother gave you his permission? You should be honoured." Daizm said cheekily. I sat down and smiled.

"So he was the one you were rushing out to find last night." I said.

"You know my little sister?" Lindetis asked me.

"Yeah, she crashed into me last night when rushing out to find you." I replied. Lindetis immediately glared at his sister.

"Daizm, how many times must you be told to watch where you are going?"

"Geez, chill. Besides, if you didn't keep staying out 10 minutes before curfew I wouldn't have to rush around to fetch you." Daizm said primly. I chuckled a little.

"It's honestly fine. Neither of us really got hurt or anything, so no harm, no foul?" I said.  
"I guess." Lindetis sighed. Then, Jaidenenk came over.

"Hey, Shinji! I was wondering where you were! I thought you'd be at the usual table." Jaidenenk said

"Sorry, Jaiden. I recently met these two and I wanted to get to know them better so I sat with them." I said.

"Is he your friend?" Lindetis asked me quietly.

"Yeah, he is . Could he sit here too?" I asked him.

"Of course. I wouldn't want to be the reason for you not spending time with your friends." Lindetis repiled. Daizm's eyes widened in surprise, I guess she wasn't expecting Lindetis to say it was okay.

"Cool, thanks. Well, sit down man, you even have permission." I said.

"Wow, permission! I feel special!" Jaidenenk said jovially. He and Arianoli slid into chair on either side of me.

"You should! My brother hardly ever lets people he's never met before sit at our table!" Daizm exclaimed.

"Daizm…" Lindetis moaned.

"Well, I guess I better introduce myself then! I'm Jaidenenk Cloud." Jaidenenk said.

"I'm Daizm Tate and this is my older brother Lindetis Tate." Daizm said.

"Great to meetcha!" Jaidenenk said. Lindetis cracked yet another small smile.

"Likewise." He said simply. The rest of the lunch continued with Daizm, Jaidenenk and I animatedly chatting while I noticed Lindetis bringing out a sketchbook and begin sketching something.

 **After School**

I found myself walking back to the dorms on my own as Jaidenenk had landed himself in detention when he beat up a couple of guys saying unsavoury things about Arianoli. Arianoli herself was still in hospital, but would be released tomorrow morning. I spotted a cafe on the way and decided I might as well stop in and see if it was any good. As I entered, I saw while it was noisy on the account of the place looking pretty popular, the atmosphere would lend itself nicely to studying. Plus it was a diner, I could order food while I was studying. I found myself an empty booth in the corner and ordered a plate of Kougra Sushi, sushi that looked like little Kougra heads and were almost too cute to eat. Despite how busy the cafe was, I got a lot of studying done and the sushi was delicious, even though I did feel a little bad about eating it.

 **Nighttime**

It was night by the time I exited the cafe. I was just heading back to the dorms when I almost crashed into a girl for the second time this week. She was a Starry Usul with strawberry blonde hair and seemed about my age. She smiled winsomely at me.

"Well, hello there handsome. Forgive me, but I need to do this. Do us both a favour and don't struggle." She said and then suddenly grabbed and kissed me right on the lips. I was so stunned by it that I inadvertently ended up doing what she said and didn't struggle. Then after a few minutes, she released me.

"Ah, sorry about doing that so suddenly to you, cutie. I needed somebody to act as my lover and you were both the closest and the cutest boy I could choose so you were it." She said.

"Uh…" Was my less than intelligent reply.

"You're so cute! Say, if you see me at my place sometime I can make it up to you." The Usul said. She wrote down an address on a piece of paper and handed it to me. "Just ask for Gysende. That's me, by the way. See you later, handsome." Gysende said and she dashed off into the night. Still trying to wrap my head around what in the world just happened, I decided that I would go to sleep early tonight

 **Author's Note:** **In this chapter, we meet who Daizm was looking for last chapter. No social links with either yet though as Shinji doesn't know either well enough yet. Also poor Shinji isn't quite sure what to make of Gysende's kiss. He's never had something like that happen before, poor guy.**


End file.
